1914.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 459 



The most abundant species is Melanoplus femur-ruhnmi, which 

 literally swarms in the low, weedy fields and pastures just above the 

 salt meadows, but is somewhat less frequent in the drier uplands, 

 where it is almost equalled in numbers by such forms as Melanoplus 

 atlanis and Orphulella pelidna. Other common species of this 

 faunule are Arphia xanthoptera, Chortophaga viridifasciata, Dissos- 

 teira Carolina, Psinidia fenestralis, Scudderia texensis, Orchelimum 

 vxdgare and Xiphidium strictum. 



Frequent, but not especially common, species are Syrbula admir- 

 abilis, Hippiscus 7'ugosus, Melanoplus fetnoratus, Scudderia furcata, 

 both species of Amhlgcorypha, Conocephalus rohiistus and triops. 



Frequent locally, particularly in thicketed areas and along the 

 borders of woodlands, are such species as Arphia sulphurea, Hippiscus 

 phoenicoj)terus, Sckistocerca damnifica, and Melanoplus scudderi. 

 These seem to be essentially sylvan types, which in the Coastal 

 District succeed in holding their own in the locations mentioned. 



The following members of the Subcoastal faunule appear to be 

 rare or very exceptional: Eritettix carinatus, Trimerotropis maritima, 

 Sckistocerca americana and Xiphidium saltans. 



The Littoral or, more properlj^, Dune group is characteristic of 

 the higher, drier parts of the beaches. As already mentioned, these 

 beaches are formed of sand heaped up by the combined action of 

 wind, wave and tide. In southern New Jersey, where I am most 

 familiar with them, they all present the same physiographic features. 

 On the ocean side there is the beach or strand, consisting of two 

 portions, a lower beach covered regularly daily by the tide and 

 totally devoid of all vegetation, and an upper beach, which is only 

 covered at intervals, as during severe storms. The upper beach 

 normally consists of dry, white quartz sand. It is largely bare, but 

 supports an open growth of several plants, the most abundant and 

 characteristic of which is the sea-rocket, Cakile edentula, other 

 frequent associates being Salsola kali and Ammodenia peploides. 

 Above the upper beach comes the outer or frontal dune and back of 

 it and extending to the salt meadows stretches a variable series of 

 minor dunes with intervening depressions, many of which are deep 

 enough to reach to and expose the underlying marsh mud. The 

 frontal dune is dominated by a nearly pure growth of the sand-binding 

 grass, Ammophila arenaria, which also constitutes the dominant 

 vegetation for several rods back of the frontal dune, but is gradually 

 replaced on more leeward dune areas by a mixed growth, consisting 

 of such forms as Andropogon littoralis, several species of Panicum, 



